PERSIAN BERRIES.

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iron mordants, grey, olive-green, and a peculiar kind of black, according tothe strength of the mordant applied ; with oxide of chromium, an olive-yellow;with a mixture of alumina and iron, reseda-colour is produced (the colourexhibited by the flower known as Reseda or mignonette) ; with tin mordants ayellow is obtained.

Persian berries—often simply known as “ berries,” or with a series of addi-tional aliases, chiefly indicating the country whence they are imported—arethe seed-bearing fruit of different species of shrubs known as Rhamnus, andgrowing wild or cultivated in Southern France, in Spain, Italy, Turkey,Roumania (the Moldo-Wallachian States), the Levant, and Persia. The berryhas the size of a pea, but bears three or four semicircular depressions, cor-responding to the number of the flattened seeds it contains. The colour ofthe dried ware, as met with in commerce, varies from yellowish-green to black,but berries of the latter colour are too old to yield any good results in dyeing.The taste of the berries is bitter, and they give off a very nauseous and sick-ening smell. The following kinds are met with in the trade:—

1. The Persian berry properly so-called is larger than the other kinds, and

produced by the Rhamnus amygdalinus , oleo'ides, and saxatilis. It isimported from Smyrna and Aleppo : the colour is beautifully green ;shape elongated ; size that of a large pea, four seeds triangular-shaped ;taste bitter; very rich in colouring matter; sorted, according to size,in three varieties—large, middling, and small.

2. Levant berries, grown in Natolia and other parts of Turkey; brought to

Europe by way of Constantinople and Smyrna. Their size is that of apeppercorn ; they contain three seeds. Among the best kinds of the so-called Levant berries are those grown in Roumania and Bessarabia.

3. Morea berries. A large-sized berry, containing two seeds; colour a

light yellow.

4. Avignon or French berries ; the produce of the Rhamnus infectorius and

alaternus. Colour deep green; size of a peppercorn ; shape flattened,contains two seeds ; quality less good than the Persian.

5 - Spanish berries ; the produce of the Rhamnus saxatilis. In shape and

size like to the previous-named kind ; colour rather more yellow, andconsidered of better quality.

6- Italian berries; the produdt also of the Rhamnus infectorius, and very

similar to the Avignon berries.

7 - Hungarian berries ; the produdt of the Rhamnus catliariicus and saxatilis.

The size of peas; are considered of good quality.

The decodtion of these berries has a yellow-greenish colour, and turnsorange on the addition of alkalies or alkaline earth, which latter also causethe formation of a slight flocculent precipitate. The decodtion is not precipi-tated by acetate of lead or acetate of copper ; tin-salt turns the colour of thedecodtion to a greenish-yellow.

The colouring matters known as xanthorhamnin, rhamnin, chrysorham-ni n, rhamnetin, and rhamnoxanthin, contained in the berries just men-tioned, now require our attention. The berries contain several colouringglucosides soluble in water, and besides, according to Bolley, a yellow colourinsoluble in water, which he states to be quercetin. The existence of several

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